The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1887-01-06
OFF THE TRACK"
The Many Obstacles in the Way of
Return.


ksv. T. De witt Talmage Tells How the
Shackles of Bad Habits May BE Unriv-
tied, and How the Paths of vir-
tue May He Regained.
CLEVELAND, o., Dec. 5.-Rev. DR.. Talmage
preached in this city to-day. He took for his
text the thirty-ffth verse OF the twenty
third chapter of Proverbs: "When shall /
awakea will seek it yet again" His sub
ject was: "Off the Track-How to Get on
Again." The sermon is as follows:
With an insight INTO human nature, such
as no other man ever reached, Solomon, in
my text, sketches the mental operations of
one who, having stepped aside from the
path of rectitude, desires to return. With
wish for something better he said {:
"When shall awakea When shall come
out of this horrid nightmare of iniquity!"
But seized upon by uneradicated habit and
forced down hill by his passions, he cries
out: 81 will seek it yet again. Twill try
it once more"
Our libraries are adorned with an ele,
giant literature addressed to young men,
pointing out to them all the dangers and
perils of life-complete maps of the voyage,
showing all the rocks, the quicksands, the
shoals. But suppose q man has already
made shipwreck; suppose he is already off
the track; suppose he has already gone
astray, how is he to get backa That is a
field comparatively untouched. l propose
to address myself this morning to SUCH
There are those in this audience who, with
every passion Of their agonized soul, are
ready to hear such discussion. They
compare themselves with what they were
ten years ago, and cry out from the bondage
in which they are incarcerated. Now, if
there be any IN this house, come with an
earnest purpose, yet feeling they are be-
yond the pale of Christian sympathy, and
that the preacher can hardly be expected to
address them, then, at this moment, I give
them my right hand, and call them brother.
Look up. There is glorious and triumph
ant hope for you yet. sound the trumpet
of Gospel deliverance. The church is
ready to spread banquet at your return,
and the hierarchs of Heaven to fall into
line Of hammered procession at the news of
your emancipation. So far as God may
help me, Ipropose to show what are the
obstacles to your return, and then how you
are to surmount these obstacles.
The first difficulty in the way of your re-
turn is the force of moral gravitation. Just
as there is natural law which brings
down to the earth any thing you throw in
to the air, so there is moral gravitation.
In other words, it is easier to 20 down than
it is to go up; it is easier to do wrong than
1t is to do right. Cali to mind the comrades
OF your boyhood days-some of them good,
some OF them bad. Which most affected
youa Call to mind the anecdotes you have
heard in the last five or ten years-some
apd Of
pure. Which the more easily sticks to your
memorya During the years of your life you
have formed certain courses of conduct
some of them good, some of them bad To
which style Of habit did you most easily
yielda
All! my friends, we have to take but q
moment Of selfinspection to find out that
there Is in all souls force of moral CRAWL
tation. But that gravitation may be re-
sisted Just as you may pick up from the
earth something and hold it in your hand
towards Heaven, just so, by the power of
Gods grace, soul fallen may be lifted
towards peace, toward pardon, toward
Heaven. The force of moral gravitation
is in every one Of us, but there IS power in
Gods grace to overcome that force of
moral gravitation.
The next thing in the way of your return
is the power of evil habit know there
are those who say it is very easy for them
to give up evil habits. do not believe
them Here is man given to intoxication.
He knows it is degrading his family, de-
stroying his property, running him, body,
mind and soul. If that man, being an in
telligent man, could easily give up that
habit, would he not do SO! The fact that
he does not give it up proves that it is hard
to give it up. It is very easy thing to
sail down stream, the tide carving YOU
with great force; but suppose you turn the
boat up stream, is 1t so easy then to row it!
As long as we yield to the evil inclinations
in our hearts, and our bad habits, we are
sailing down stream, but the moment we
try to turn we put our boat in the rapids
Just above Niagara, and try to row up
stream.
Take man given to the habit Of using
tobacco, as most Of you do, and let him re-
solve to stop, and he finds it very difficult.
Twenty -one years ago Iquit that habit, and
Iwould as soon put my right hand into the
fire as once to indulge in it. Whya Be-
cause 1T was such terrific struggle to get
over it. Now, let man be advised by his
physician to give up the use of tobacco He
goes around not knowing what to do with
himself. He can not add up line of fig
ures; he can not sleep nights; it seems as
If the world had turned upside down; he
feels his business is going to ruin; where
he was kind and obliging he is scolding and
fretful; the composure that characterized
him has given way to fretful rest.
lessness, and he has become a com.
plete fidget. What power Is it that
has rolled wave Of woe over the
earth and shaken a portent in the Heavensa
He has tried to stop smoking! After awhile
he says: II am going to do as please. The
doctor does not understand my case. am
going back to my old habit" And he re-
turns. Every thing assumes its usual com
posture; his business seems to brighten
the world becomes an attractive place to
live IN; his children, seeing the difference,
hail the return of their fathers genial dis
position. What wave OF color has dashed
blue into the sky, and greenness into the
mountain foliage, and the glow of sapphire
into the sunsetl What enchantment has
lifted world of beauty and joy on his
soula He has gone back to smoking.
Obi the fact is, as we all know in our own
experience, that habit is taskmaster: as
long as we obey it it does not chastise us.